Ashton Kutcher’s hidden camera prank show Punk’d originally ran on MTV from 2003 to 2007. During that time, Kutcher and his crew pulled elaborate practical jokes on many celebrities, successfully fooling everyone from Justin Timberlake to Katie Holmes to Bernie Mac. But when you go to great lengths to mess with people, it stands to reason that not every prank will work out as planned. As a result, the showrunners ended up with plenty of footage that didn’t make it to air over the years.
One unexpected incident occurred while the crew was pranking Scrubs star Zach Braff back in 2005. Braff’s Scrubs co-star, Donald Faison, thought that his buddy was a little overprotective of his new $100,000 Porsche, and arranged to have some kids spray paint the car as the two were walking out of a liquor store one night. What no one anticipated was that Braff would run after one of the kids as they fled the scene. You can take a look at the footage in question—or at least what they decided to air of it—below.
The ‘Punk’d’ Prank That Resulted in Zach Braff Punching a 12-Year-Old
But there was one little additional part that didn’t make the final cut. You see, once Braff caught up to the “little f—ker,” as he once described him, he actually started punching the kid. Though he’s not a big fighter by his own admission, Braff told Contactmusic.com the following year that his adrenaline was pumping from everything that was going on, and he just pummeled the boy without thinking. According to some sources, the kid was only 12 years old.
“I punched him in the stomach (as I recall),” Braff revealed in a 2011 Reddit AMA, adding, “Who amongst you wouldn’t have?” He later explained to Graham Norton that he hadn’t initially known that it was a little boy while he was attacking him. “And I stopped cuz I didn’t realize he was so young,” said the actor. “And, of course, they edited that whole bit out because they don’t really want you beating up children on MTV.”
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